Why Lead Generation Isn’t Enough

Consider this: no matter how many leads your business gets, the leads still need to be nurtured and they still need to be closed. But how?

Intentional email marketing.

Why do you need to nurture your leads?

We’ve all heard that it takes 7 points of contact for someone to purchase a product or service.

Simply exchanging an opt-in for an email address is not enough to convince someone to purchase from you. You need to be building your Know, Like and Trust factor so that when you have a product or service to offer, you have an engaged and excited list of people ready to buy from you.

Email marketing also gives you the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise. In a world where people are being sold to every day, you need to stand out. You need to show your leads why you are the person they should be buying from and email gives you that chance.

How do you nurture your leads?

Automate it (a little).

Have a welcome series set up so that as soon as you get a new lead, they are added to an automated series of emails that tell them a little more about you, what you do, and what you offer.

Send regular emails.

Your prospects gave you their email address for a reason – they want to hear from you, so send out those emails!

It may feel like a struggle, though, to figure out what you should be sending in your emails/newsletters. It can be simple: share about you, share about your business, learn about your customers, and give value. Don’t only send emails when you have something to sell and don’t only send emails asking your leads to buy something. Add value to your customers’ lives.

Make it worth your customer’s time to read your emails.

“The average person deletes 48% of the emails they receive every day. This task takes them just five minutes.” (source)

Make sure your emails are worth your customer’s time to read. Don’t be sending out those emails that automatically get deleted from your customer’s inbox.

Once you’ve nurtured your leads, how do you close the sale?

Ask. Ask for the sale.

You’ve spent the time giving value and proving your expertise. Now it’s time to ask for the sale. Ideally, the people on your email list are going to think “if she gives all of this value away for free, how much more amazing information will she have in a paid offering?”

Have you ever launched a product or service to crickets? You know you have an awesome, value-packed offering, but you can’t seem to actually sell it!

Go back through your marketing materials – did you actually ask your clients or prospects to buy from you? Were you clear in what you were offering? Did you share the value that your prospects will gain from purchasing your product or service?

Go back through your posts, your emails, your messaging and look at it all objectively. Even better, have a friend or accountability partner review it all to make sure your message was clear. Use the feedback from the review to tweak and improve for your next launch.

As you’re growing your business and getting more sales, keep in mind that focusing solely on getting leads is not a fully fleshed out marketing plan. You should definitely be keeping your pipeline full of leads, but be prepared to take the next steps to nurture those leads so that they will readily buy from you when you ask for the sale.